The Observation Deck

I've been catching up on some of the threads, and it seems the concept of having a moving safety watch or block watch has been so long ago, many of the readers/posters on the deck forgot or don't know what it is, or rather could be.

I'll take a minute to refresh.

Any city or area grows, to a parallel degree that is safe. If you don't agree with that statement, argue with the F.B.I. : )

While I'm a law and order type, and support anything that Lakewood Police Dept want or need, Cleveland has had countless volunteer citizen groups helping out their areas. Back "when", they used to use CB's and car-phones (the kind you mounted the base in the trunk) and if they saw something amiss, would call C.P.D. As long as the citizen group didn't make problems or tried to PLAY police-officer, they were and are effective in reporting things going on to the police dept., that otherwise would go overlooked because of the "I didn't see anything" attitude".

This is what we have tried to get going here, for I think over 2 yrs.

It hasn't happened.

So much for preventative maintenance.

I suppose, when it gets bad enough, and the problems of Cleveland's west side cross 117th, or come over Lakewood Hts, into the bulk of the Wood, break-ins, auto-thefts, assaults, whatever, then suddenly someone will jump up and say, "lets start a volunteersafety watch".

For those of you who know about this, I apologize for bringing up an old song.

Mark C.

Mark

I would like to add a couple things.

1) We had funding.

2) There was ZERO interest from residents.


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Someone just submitted a new block watch meeting to the Event Calendar.

I'd talk with Sgt. Favre about different block watches that are either start-ups or are on-going.

It seems like people are interested in working within the system (council reps. and LPD) rather than going indy in this area.

dl meckes wrote:Someone just submitted a new block watch meeting to the Event Calendar.

I'd talk with Sgt. Favre about different block watches that are either start-ups or are on-going.

It seems like people are interested in working within the system (council reps. and LPD) rather than going indy in this area.

DL


Perhaps that would be an interesting exercise. I have done it I found the answer pretty interesting.

At the same time let's ask him about "sectioning the city" he has a really good opinion of this.

Also let's float Art Zones past the head of Grow Lakewood. I bet he has an opinion on those as well.

How about it Ed, I know you are out there reading.


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I seem to remember and please, correct me if I'm wrong, that there is a requirement that greater than 50% of a neighborhood participate in the "Block Watch". Was that for a particular program, or something that the city of Lakewood has established, or something that I remember but it totally unrelated?

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Thanks for the background on past Neighborhood Watch programs. Mark, are you aware of the "Block Parent" program my neighbor described from the 60s and 70s? I'd be interested in hearing about that as well.

As to the slow response for starting a Neighborhood Watch, my hunch is it takes time, care, growing, and feeding to build a volunteer network for any cause, period. Only when you have a galvanizing issue such as the West End Development or the 2004 Presidential Election do people come out in a huge wave. In all other cases you have to grow your volunteer network from seed. You start small and go from there.

Example: the Lakewood Food Club. Started with one or two dozen; building we hope to three or four dozen next year. After year three or four and sustained momentum, we might take off.

Hypothetical Example: throw a party where you're asking people to do nothing but eat, drink, and be merry for FREE--and how easy is it to get people to show up? Not very--people are busy raising their families and earning a living. They have scheduling conflicts and bad days. Stuff comes up.

So I'd encourage us not to get discouraged. Put the key elements of a Neighborhood Watch program in place--

• Trainings,
  --Phone number hot sheets,
  --Instructions on "What do I look for? Who do I call?" etc.
  --Get a newsletter going (one page by snail mail, two paragraphs by email twice per month--doable)
  --Then persistently and patiently grow the volunteer network.
  --THANK people frequently and often
  --Recruit at churches, PTA meetings, the Chamber/Kiwanis/Jaycees etc.

...then once, in the fullness of time, some galvanizing need comes around, when citizen interest naturally crests, you'll be ready to catch--and capture--the wave.

It can be done.

Tom,
Some good points. When I started several of these over the yrs. in Cleveland, all I had to do was talk to 1 or 2 people, and the next step was finding a meeting location for 10 or 20. This takes in account that it was in Cleveland, where the awareness and perception of need was "different" at the time.

Given a different area, different circumstances, your points are worth a try.
Thanks..

Charyn Compeau wrote:

2) There was ZERO interest from residents.

Jim/Mark:

I think it is quite important to try to understand WHY there was no interest..

Clearly, there is a problem here. But what is it really?

Find that root cause - work on it and we may find the momentum this project so richly deserves.

JMO

Charyn

Charyn


I have thought many times about why. The reasons I thought was that it did not seem needed at the time except around the bars, so many thought it was someone else's problem not theirs. Also it is not glamorous and fun. While Mark who was the start of the project would post scary items, I would try to temper with fun. We even had a meeting as Tom suggested, but no one wanted to talk about block watch.

Also we have some problems with all of the terms. Block Watch is not really what Mark and I had laid out. It is also one of the reasons we worked on it without the city, but with a liaison in the Law Office.

If Lakewood was a high crime area, it would need to get "military" but Mark and I both realized that it is far better to get people out and more eyes on the street. What Mark and I worked out was fun, took full advantage of what was going on at the time, and funding was there.

I do not see a block watch as the answer, as that does best after the problem starts. To me a lot of this, and many in City Hall agree but cannot do it, is a PR problem. As you know growing up here, Lakewood used to have a reputation. this was hammered home by Mayors Robert Lawther and Tony Sinagra, and has been echoed in all of my talks about this. Come to Lakewood for fun, it is all cool and you are welcomed. Come for crime and mischief and you will be seen, called in and arrested. This is far different than CERTS, Block Watch, etc.

The next problem is what do you call it. If you call it crime watch, neighbors flee. If you call it bar watch, it is something else. This is why I pushed for Lakewood's walking club. They just chose to walk together, at late or early hours.

Could we have done better, you bet. I have not given up and I know Mark has not. When it popped up again I thought I should mention some of the problems we encountered. I know that some here think we should count on the city for everything, that their pockets are deep enough to pay and pay and pay for every little thing we need. What Mark and I, and you(the other to sign up) had discovered was a fun way to help the city, and we even found funding. Everything is the visionary Alignment for Lakewood is saving Lakewood money, while making Lakewood better for ALL. There is not one thing in the VAL that infringes on anyone in any way shape or form. We practice what we preach.

While DL offers the city programs and I encourage everyone to try those, they never were meant to do the things we are looking at. also it does provide a massive burden on the city. Also as Mark will tell you it falls way short of what is needed. All of these things we have checked with those groups and or the Law Department.

FWIW


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